Boomtown X

Sony has announced it has begun the full restoration of PSN services.

Tokyo, June 2, 2011 –Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will fully restore all PlayStation®Network services today June 2, 2011, in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™ for PlayStation®3 (PS3®), PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), VAIO and other PCs.

Details of “Welcome Back” package program offered to all registered PlayStation Network* and Qriocity account services will be announced from each region.

Announcement for restoration in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as for the remaining services on Qriocity will be made as they become available.

Following on from our earlier story about PS3 hardware failures and the game LA Noire, Rockstar Games has just sent over the following joint statement issued by the publisher and Sony.

We have received a very small number of customer support questions about PS3’s overheating or shutting down while playing L.A. Noire. At this time, Rockstar Games and Sony can confirm that neither L.A. Noire or firmware update 3.61 are causing the PS3 hardware to overheat. We are both committed to working hard to find solutions to this and any issues that may arise. If you are experiencing any issues with L.A. Noire or your PS3 hardware, please contact technical support using any of the means provided below:

Rockstar Support: www.rockstargames.com/support
Rockstar Support on Twitter: twitter.com/RockstarSupport

PlayStation 3 Support: us.playstation.com/support/
PlayStation 3 Support EU: www.eu.playstation.com

We bet there's been a lot of lawyers arguing with each other this afternoon before this statement was agreed. It smells of corporate expediency and marketing rather than getting to the bottom of what the problem might be. If only LA Noire's Cole Phelps could investigate the story.

LA Noire is a game that does a heck of a lot of streaming. On Xbox 360 you can install the whole thing (but still get disk swaps), but PS3 owners can only make use of a small part install. By the way, tune in for our review of the game tomorrow morning, just in time for your lunchtime amble to the videogames store.

Here's a short preview: the game is great. Like you didn't know that.

Sony really is having an awful month of May. Not content with losing all our personal info it has now had to deal with many gamers complaining about overheating PS3 consoles while play Rockstar's new hit LA Noire.

But this one is not the fault of Sony according to the company. "Rockstar have now updated their FAQ on the matter, have admitted that it is a fault with their latest title LA Noire and have offered a workaround," says Sony. "It should also be noted that the issue with this title is not PS3 specific and is also affecting other consoles."

Looks like Rockstar tried to pull a fast one, Sony stood up to it and Rockstar has been put firmly in its place.

Source: Edge

PSN users were finally sent information via email regarding the ridiculous security breach that has laid open millions of customers' data to hackers.

It should be a grovelling apology, but it isn't, it's rather matter of fact.

Read the whole thing after the break. Oh and then go cancel your credit cards and change all your passwords. Actually maybe do that first, then read the statement.

In a nutshell, Sony don't like teh PS3 haxxsors, we're not surprised to learn. The company has issued a statement about the recent laying bare of PlayStation 3's security inadequacies.

Check it out after the break.

Sony has announced the list of publishers/developers signed up for the NGP handheld. It's an impressive list, featuring publishers such as Rockstar Games, Activision and Square Enix.

But one notable name is missing, that of Electronic Arts. The last time we saw some hardware without EA support was the Sega Dreamcast and look what happened to that.

In this case though we're sure we'll see EA sign up sooner rather than later, we hope so anyway, as no FIFA 12 on NGP, no sale.

Check out the full publisher list after the jump

Sony has released the first images of its new handheld gaming system which was announced in Tokyo last night.

Check them out after the jump.

Last night in Tokyo Sony unveiled its second generation PlayStation Portable - currently dubbed the Next Generation Portable or NGP.

The handheld sounds like a powerful little beast, powered by a four-core ARM Cortex CPU and boasting a 960 x 544 OLED capacitive touchscreen, GPS, motion sensing, twin joysticks (that'll make Call of Duty easier), rear touchpad, 3G and integrated WiFi.

We've posted the first official images right here.

Check out the full details after the jump.

Gran Turismo 5 creator Kazunori Yamauchi has just tweeted that the new release date for Gran Turismo 5 is about to be announced.

Release date is likely to be announced shortly.

Let's hope the release is this year.

Details of Europe's LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector's Edition have been unveiled, thanks to Sony's product manager Alex Pavey on the official PlayStation Blog.

Come January you can expect the following goodies:

- SteelBook case with groovy transparent sleeve.
- Five PSN avatars.
- Seven DLC costumes, including Tron Legacy's Clu, Toy Story 3's Alien and a cobra!

There's also some Jak, Daxter, Ratchet and Clank costumes to be had as pre-order bonuses.

More information on the official PlayStation Blog

Those of you signed up to the PlayStation Plus service have a few goodies to look forward to in the coming months.

On top of some God of War Collection and Red Faction Guerilla trials, Oddworld: Abe's Exodus and a great bargain on Penny Arcade episodes, should you sign up for a year's subscription you'll get an extra 90 days for free.

Check out the full list after the jump.

Ubisoft and Sony have announced that free additional content for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood will be available for the PlayStation 3 version of the game at launch.

In this exclusive content players will be given new missions by enaissance astronomer Copernicus including courier, assassination and protection tasks.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is set for release on November 16th for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with a PC version following some time in 2011 when Ubisoft can be bothered.